While Marissa Mayer is busy trying to figure out what to do with Yahoo’s new $4.5 billion in cash — recently gained from selling 20 percent of its holdings in Alibaba back to, well, Alibaba — the Chinese web and eCommerce giant has recently been in a heated exchange with Yahoo’s old pal, Google.

The fun apparently began after Taiwanese PC maker Acer cancelled the launch of its new phone in China — an event for which there was quite a bit of anticipation. As things progressed, it became clear that, in fact, Google was at least partially responsible for delaying the launch of the phone. Why? Long story short: Google objected to Acer using a rival OS in its new phone, according to the WSJ.

I like to picture this quote in caplocks, preceded by an exclamation like “GAH!” and a double-handed cheek smack. Not just because I’m a member of the media and I enjoy good drama (no, you can’t have any of my popcorn), but also because I think there are a number of people who might agree — if not with this statement — with the sentiment. Maybe this will be impetus for Android to take a page out of Firefox’s book and get trademarked (while remaining open sourced).

But, wait, what’s the backstory here? Well, I’m glad you asked. In the same WSJ story referenced before (unfortunately and somewhat ironically, it’s behind a paywall), but Google’s reason for meddling in Acer’s Aliyun launch was, of course, that Acer had totally given it a promise ring and because Aliyun is playing fast and loose with Google’s mobile things (i.e. it’s not compatible):

[Acer has] committed to building one Android platform and to not ship non-compatible Android devices … Compatibility is at the heart of the Android ecosystem and ensures a consistent experience for developers, manufacturers and consumers. Non-compatible versions of Android, like Aliyun, weaken the ecosystem.

So, basically what Google is saying is that Aliyun is running a non-compatible version of Android. And, hey, if that’s true, Google has a very good reason to rain on Acer and Aliyun’s parade. Clearly, trying to take the high road, Android published this nicely written little run-down of compatibility earlier today. The biggest takeaway: The most important external factor that, in Google’s words, can weaken the Android ecosystem as a whole is “incompatibilities between implementations of Android.”

And, again, this makes sense. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link, if some developer implements a utility function poorly, then apps don’t run as well across devices, consumers get a bad user experience, developers leave — you get it, the thing falls apart.

Okay, so the blog post is a veiled way of saying, “Quit making the system suck.” Of course, it does betray a little sour grapes from Google, which doesn’t make any money yet from Google Play in China, and was clearly not happy with one of its OEM partners using a competitive OS, even if “incompatible.”

Android Top Dog Andy Rubin weighed in tonight on his Google+ profile (which is getting ridiculous, by the way … thank god Dick Costolo doesn’t respond to every question in a tweet), saying that he/Google were very surprised by Alibaba’s CSO Zeng Ming quote that Aliyun “wants to be the Android of China,” especially when, Rubin says, the Aliyun OS incorporates the Android runtime and was apparently derived from Android.”

Based on our analysis of the apps available at http://apps.aliyun.com, the platform tries to, but does not succeed in being compatible.

It’s easy to be Android compatible, the OHA supplies all the tools and details on how to do it. Check out this blog post that explains how we think about compatibility and how it relates to the ecosystem we worked hard to build. [He then links to the "compatibility" blog post.]

Google victory, right? Well, er, sort of.

Apparently, Google had been pressuring Acer to call off the event for awhile, as this wasn’t the first phone that launched with the supposedly forked Android OS. But Aliyun launching with a big partner OEM obviously didn’t sit too well with Google. Of course, in terms of compatibility, Aliyun claims that its OS built from the ground up and is Linux-based, so it’s technically not part of the Android ecosystem.

As John Spelich said in response to Google’s statement and then added to his thoughts in a quote in TIA:

Aliyun OS is not part of the Android ecosystem so of course Aliyun OS is not and does not have to be compatible with Android. It is ironic that a company that talks freely about openness is espousing a closed ecosystem.

…

This is like saying that because they own the Googleplex in Mountain View, therefore anyone who builds in Mountain View is part of the Googleplex.

Of course, Aliyun is trying to play both sides — remain separate from the Android ecosystem, while being Android binary-compatible. Although it does say its focus is on web apps. Obviously, what tipped off Rubin (as he alludes to in his Google+ post) and Google was the fact that Aliyun is running Android apps. It can’t have it both ways, so if it drops the APK, perhaps Google wouldn’t block the rim.

And my guess: Samsung won’t be bringing its fork to the table anytime soon.

ANDROID

ALIBABA

Android is a software platform for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in Java that utilizes Google-developed software libraries, but does not support programs developed in native code.

The unveiling of the Android platform on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 34 hardware, software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards…

Alibaba.com is a B2B e-commerce company. Alibaba’s primary business is to serve as a directory of Chinese manufacturers connecting them to other companies around the world looking for suppliers. According to iResearch, it was the largest online B2B company in China in 2006 based on the number of registered users and market share in China by revenue. Yahoo is currently a 40% share holder in the parent Alibaba Group.

They operate two marketplaces; the first is an international marketplace based…